Sketching outfit



March 1945- c. F. GLINECKI 2,372,077

SKETCHING OUTFIT Filed March '7, 1944 INVENTUR CASIMIREBLINEBKI ATT URNEY Patented Mar. 20, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SKETCHING OUTFIT Casimir F. Glincckl, Syracuse, N. Y.

Application March I, 1944, Serial No. 525,377

6 Claims. (CL 45-129) The invention relates to improvements in sketching outfits for use by artists and others in making sketches and the like out of doors or in the field.

The general purpose of the invention is to provide an easily portable sketching outfit by which the user can carry to the point of use all required facilities and which canbe easily and quickly set up for convenient use of these facilities.

The invention particularly provides a sketching outfit comprising a collapsible stool having a sliding drawer so combined with the stool as to provide, when the drawer is closed and the stool is collapsed, a readily portable closed container for an easel, paper or canvas and the like boards, and various articles and materials for use in delineating matter on such boards, the drawer of which outfit is so constructed and associated with the stool as to provide an easel mount variably extensible and contractibl relatively to the stool to position the easel for convenient use by a person seated on the stool when the outfit is set up for use.

A further feature of the improved outfit resides in the simple and effective arrangement of the extensibl and collapsible parts thereof and in the means whereby these parts may be securely held-in collapsed relation for transportation.

Other advantageous features of the invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the outfit conditioned for use in making a sketch or the like;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the outfit taken approximately on the line 2-2 of'Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the outfit collapsed for transportation; and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the outfit collapsed for transportation.

The stool portion of the outfit comprises a seat and two pairs of legs foldable into compact relation with the seat. The seat comprises a fiat oblong top I pendent from which are two longitudinal side walls II and a rear wall l2, the top being longer than it is wide and being sufficiently narrow to be straddled by the user. Extending under the bottom edges of the side walls I I of the seat and part way up the outer face of each of said walls is a different one of two angle irons l3, each of which angle irons is aflixed to the associated side wall by suitable screws 14 (Figure 3) Each of these angle irons has a longitudinal slot IS in the portion thereof opposed to the outer face of the adjacent side wall ll. One pair of legs l6 of the stool is connected by a cross bar or brace l1, and the other pair of legs ll of the stool is connected by a cross bar or brace It, the cross bars being adjacent the ground-engaging ends of the legs. The legs 16 are pivoted to the respective angle irons l3 at 20 forward of the forward ends of the slots Iii, .so that when this pair of legs is folded upwardly and rearwardly toward the seat, the cross bar I! will lie immediately behind the lower edge of the rear wall [2 of the seat. Each of the legs i6 is pivoted to the adjacent one of the legs I8 by a pivot 2| for folding the legs I! by swinging the same about pivots 2| to carry the cross bar l9 up against the lower edges of the side walls ll of the seat adjacent the rear end of the seat. Each of the legs 18 has fixed thereto adjacent one end a stud 22 which is slidably engaged in the closed longitudinal slot [5 in the adjacent angle iron l3. When the legs I; are unfolded the studs 22 are at the rear ends of the slots 15, and when these legs are folded the studs 22 move forward to a point at or adjacent the forward ends of the slots l5 so that legs l8 extend rearward alongside legs II; when the outfit is in folded condition. The ground-engaging end of each leg is preferably encased in a rubber foot 42.

Slidably mounted in the seat portion of the collapsible stool is a combined drawer and fore and aft adjustable easel support. This drawer and easel support has a bottom wall 23, two iongitudinal side walls 24, a rear wall 25 and a front wall 26. Each of the side walls 24 of the drawer has its outer face provided with a longitudinal rib 21 which is slidably engaged in one of two opposed longitudinal guideways 28 formed in the inner races of the respective side walls ll of the seat of the stool to slidably support the drawer with its bottom wall 23 substantially flush with the lower edges of the side walls ll of the seat. The angle irons 13 preferably extend under the lower edges of the walls I I far enough to serve as additional supports for the bottom wall of the drawer. The length of the drawer corresponds substantially with the fore and aft length of the seat portion of the stool, but the depth of the side walls 24 of the drawer is preferably substantially less than the height of the walls II of the seat. The walls I I of the seat are provided at their inner faces, above the upper edges of the side walls 24 of the drawer, with a plurality of longitudinal grooves or slideways 29 extending throughout the length of the walls II for supporting paper boards, canvas boards and the like upon which sketches, etc., are to be made. The front wall 26 of the drawer is higher and wider than the bottom of the drawer-so that, when the drawer is closed, the drawer and seat will form a closed compartment or casing with the wall 23 of the drawer abutting the forward ends of the walls ii of the seat and fitting closely beneath the under face of the top wall In of the seat, which latter wall l projects forward slightly beyond the forward ends ofthe walls H.

To the outer face of the drawer there is attached a. suitable carrying handle 30, and to the bottom wall 23 of the drawer adJacent the rear end thereof, and preferably substantially medially of the side walls of the drawer, there is attached a plate 3! in which is rotatably Journaled the pendent vertical portion of a hook-like keeper 32 which terminates in a lateral extension which is substantially parallel to the bottom of the drawer. The cross bar l9 which connects the pair of legs [8 has rigidly fixed thereto substantially medially of the ends thereof a hasp 33 which, beyond one edge of the cross bar is is formed with a slot 34 which extends fore and aft of the stool. In collapsing the outfit for carriage, the drawer is closed, the legs of the stool are folded as above described until the keeper 32 (turned as in Figure 2) passes through the slot 34, whereupon the keeper is rotated through an angle of 180 into the position shown in Figure 3, to lock the drawer against opening movement and to lock the legs against unfolding movement. Preferably, the keeper at its free end is provided with a notch 35 to releasably retain the keeper in looking position, the keeper being slightly springy to permit manual rotation of the keeper when desired to release the legs and drawer for extension of the outfit.

Extending across and fixed to the drawer, between the side walls 24 at the inner face of the front wall 26, is a block or bar 36. A vertical aperture 31 is provided through this bar and the bottom wall 23 adjacent the inner face of the wall 26 substantially midway the sides of the drawer to receive the pedestal portion 38 of a detachable easel. The easel has a suitable portion 39 at the upper end of the pedestal for supporting a board for sketching, and the pedestal may be adjustably and detachably clamped in the aperture 31 by means of a thumb screw 8 threaded in a plate 4! which is fixed to the rear face of the block or bar 36. The shank of the thumb screw extends through a suitable aperture in the bar 36 communicating with the aperture 3'l.

By loosening the thumb screw, the easel pedestal may be vertically and rotatively adjusted, or the easel may be detached and placed in the drawer. The drawer is also adapted to contain various necessary drawing materials and instruments, and it may be divided into suitable compartments by partitions if desired. When the outfit is set up or extended for use, the drawer may be extended more or less to support the easel at a desired distance from a person seated on the stool, and the drawer and seat are relatively positioned for convenient access by an occupant of the stool to the various articles carried thereby and required for making sketches.

I claim:

1. A portable and collapsible sketching outfit comprising, in combination, a collapsible stool having a seat portion and supporting means for said seat portion pivoted thereto and collapsible into compact relation with said seat portion, a drawer slidably held to said seat portion of the stool for coaction therewith to house an easel and sketching supplies when the drawer is closed and slidable laterally of the stool with the top of said drawer facing upwardly when the stool is.

extended for occupancy, and means carried by the drawer adjacent the outer end of the drawer for supporting an easel in position for use by an occupant of the extended stool, whereby the drawer may be opened for access to supplies while the stoolis extended and whereby the extent to which the drawer is opened may be varied to position, at different distances from an occupant of the stool, an easel supported by said easel supporting means.

2. A portable and collapsible sketching outfit, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seat portion of the stool has an open bottom and an open end, and the drawer is slidable through the open end of the seat portion with its bottom arranged to close the open bottom of the seat portion when the drawer is closed, whereby said drawer and said seat portion of the stool form a two-part closed carrying case for the easel and supplies when the drawer is closed.

3. A portable and collapsible sketching outfit, as claimed in claim 1, having means to lock the drawer and the seat portion of the stool together to prevent opening of the drawer, and having a carrying handle attached to one of said seat and drawer parts of the outfit for convenient manual carriage of the outfit.

4. A portable and collapsible sketching outfit, as claimed in claim 1, having a single releasable means for holding the stool collapsed and the drawer closed during transportation of the outfit.

5. A portable and collapsible sketching outfi comprising, in combination, a stool having a seat and seat supporting means connected with said seat and foldable into compact relation with the seat, a drawer held to said seat for sliding of said drawer variably horizontally outward from said seat while the stool is conditioned for use, said drawer and seat being adapted to house an easel and supplies for making sketches when the drawer is closed, easel mounting means carried by and within the drawer adjacent the front end of the drawer, and means on the drawer and said seat supporting means engageable to lock the drawer in closed relation and the seat supporting means in folded relation with the seat.

6. A portable and collapsible sketching outfit comprising, in combination, a stool seat having an open bottom and an open end, a drawer slidably engaged with said seat to close said bottom and open end of the seat to form with the seat a closed carrying case for an easel and sketchmaking supplies when the drawer is closed and variably withdrawa-ble through said open end of the seat, easel mounting means carried by the drawer adjacent the forward end of the drawer, supporting means for the stool seat foldable into compact relation with the seat adjacent the bottom of the drawer and connected with the seat independently of the drawer, and means carried respectively by the drawer and said foldable supporting means and engageable, when the drawer is closed and said supporting means are folded, to lock the drawer against opening and the supporting means against unfolding.

CASIMIR F. GLIN'ECKI. 

